This has been a question on my mind more and more as time has gone by. I finally realized one day that I was completely terrified and had no clue what to expect and how to get through it. We were signed up to take a birthing class at one of the local hospitals but the more I thought about it the more I realized this was not going to be enough to prepare either of us for a home birth. My midwife encouraged me to find a class at a local place called Baby Moon. They provide various pre-natal and post-natal resources such as: child birth, breast feeding, yoga, massage and baby sign language; just to name a few! The classes look great but I had trouble finding anything that fit into our available time or budget. I recently looked again when I started to get nervous about the birth hoping the new calendar year would provide more classes. I was in luck! I registered us for a class called Labor Workshop for Couples. I think this will defiantly be more helpful for natural childbirth than what the hospital would offer. I am very thankful that we have such a place close by to offer these resources!

Another way I have been trying to prepare and ease my mind about this is by reading lots of books! My midwife has brought me a few that have been helpful. She let me borrow: Birthing From Within, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and Gentle Birth Choices. These were all great books! I still felt like I needed more information aside from these books though. While we were in Louisville we went to Half Price Books and I found a few other books. I am so glad we did because they have helped give me so much more peace of mind! Right now I am reading Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. I really am getting so much out of this book. One thing I really like is that she lays out things for the mother and then for the birth coach.

I have been wondering how to get Blake on the same page as me because we have hardly talked about the birth and what will happen. He is a certified EMT so he does know the text book things when it comes to giving birth but there is no doubt that a home birth is just different than those things. I was starting to learn things from this book that I didn’t even know! I am only familiar with what little bit my mother and sisters have said about hospital births and what I have seen on TV. I didn’t understand how the body really works in labor. I have been sharing the things I am learning with Blake and I think it is helping ease his mind too. The fact that he was scared was just making me even more scared and I am glad to now feel the fear diminishing!

I also got a book called Hypno Birthing. I have not started this book yet but it looked great when I thumbed through it. My midwife kept suggesting a hypno birthing class from Baby Moon so I thought I would read the book. It also has a relaxation CD included with it. A few of these books have quit a bit of the new age thoughts included in them but I still find very many helpful things in each of them.

I feel like my birth plan is starting to take shape now. I have a few things that I would like to try to get comfortable when the time comes. I am going to start getting all of the materials together in one corner of our room so when the time comes we are prepared! I will post a little more in depth about what we will be trying with our home birth and the materials we will need…just in case anyone reading this may be interested in having their own home birth in the future!

I am impatiently sitting in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Blake to get finished with his class. It is just before 2pm because I was able to get extended check out until then. But his class is not due to be over until 4. I am hoping that the class will finish a bit earlier.

We had a pretty good trip but are ready to go home. We both miss our bed and our dog. I miss home cooked meals though I don’t miss cooking them. Eating out every meal gets old fast. I have tried to pick healthy options the best I can but that hasn’t been that easy. Keeping hydrated hasn’t been the easiest either. Our hotel room was hot even with the air conditioner on full blast.

We ended up not doing any sight seeing at all. We were going to go downtown last night but we just didn’t have the energy. We decided we will have to try to make a trip back when we can actually do more than drive around and just look at things. We ended up just going to some book stores after dinner and I am thankful we did. I managed to find 2 really good books about birthing that will help elevate some of my fears. They have also provided me with some entertainment today while having to sit in the lobby.

We did have one really nice evening out. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory and walked around the mall a bit. I have really been far to tired to do much. Walking around very long hasn’t been easy on me. I am having some pelvic pain due to the pregnancy that flares up when I just take a few steps. I look forward to going home and going to the chiropractor tomorrow.

We made it to Louisville. Not that we had to go far, it was only and hour and a half drive if that. Our bag with all of our toiletries in it did not make the trip though. In the hustle and bustle of trying to get everything together it was left behind. We had to load all of our stuff in our vehicle then transfer it all into the company vehicle we were riding in. We were so occupied with getting Chloe and all of her things as we were dropping her off at a friends house, that we left our bag in our car. What a bummer! We of course didn’t realize it until we got to the hotel. Thankfully we found a WalMart nearby so we could by everything we needed. 25 dollars later we can now shower and brush our teeth.

Our hotel is nice, nothing fancy but very clean and comfortable. I really wish that it had an indoor pool so that I could entertain myself that way while Blake is in his class. I am not used to having this much down time and just not sure what to do. At home I am constantly trying to get things in order for the baby and now I have 3 days to just relax. I got up early with Blake so that I could have breakfast with him, now it is only 9am and I have until 4pm before he is out of class… I saw a Half Price Books down the road last night. I think I will have Blake take me tonight to get a book to read. To bad the book store is not within walking distance because I could spend a good part of the day in there!

Tonight we are going to go out when Blake gets out of his class. We will probably go eat at The Cheesecake Factory. Tomorrow evening we will go down town and do some sight seeing. I brought my camera so I hope to get some neat pictures to blog about. Until then…

Oh so much is going on here. Our internet has been down since my last post so I haven’t been able to update anything. I did get lots of cleaning done last week! I won’t be able to post pictures until the end of the week. We are heading to Louisville for the week. Blake has to travel for work and so I am tagging along. I won’t have much to do while he is gone during the day and I am looking forward to that. I need my own little vacation before the baby is born. I am so excited to just be able to do nothing! I will take some books and music to entertain myself. Oh and I will have a computer so I will be posting a few things. Then in the evenings Blake and I will go out to eat and have some time together. We are excited to try some new restaurants that we don’t have here!

I hate this time of year! Chloe starts shedding her winter coat and all the fur just drives me nuts! She really doesn’t shed that much through most of the year. I am thankfull for that! About a week ago my allergies just started going crazy. I was sleeping with a roll of toilet paper in the bed so that I wouldn’t have to get up and blow my nose. I started noticing that fur was just flying off of Chloe when I would touch her. Today I finally decided that I was done with the piles of fur all over the floor and flying around my nose.

For those of you wondering I did not shave her! I was tempted to do so when we had Marley, he shed really bad. It was the Lab in him! I did however put Chloe in the shower and give her a good scrub. Then I used the FurBuster on her. After seeing the FURminator on t.v. I really wanted one for Marley. They are very expensive, 50.00 at Petsmart to be exact! I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that much. I didn’t give up the search for something similar though. I found the FurBuster at Walmart for only 20.00! It is the same thing. For those who don’t know, it is a de-shedding brush that has a razor built in it. It removes all the loose fur and undercoat that the dog is depositing all over your house. You can really see it work. Chloe’s undercoat is a different color than her normal silvery coat. It is darker and thicker. You can see that it removes that part of her coat and leaves her looking all shinny. It works just as well as what you see on the infomercials!

When we bought this over the summer Chloe was not shedding. I tried it on her anyway but I didn’t get anything off of her. It did work great on Marley though. Today I think I removed enough loose fur on her to make another dog. She seemed like she felt really good afterwards. She ran all over the house like a crazy! After she dried I was petting her and noticed still a bit of loose fur on her. I couldn’t find the hard bristle brush I usually use to groom her but did find a good replacement. You know the attachment on your vacuum that has hard bristles on it. Well if you are like me you never use it. Chloe actually let me use it on her with the hose attached to suck up the hair that was loose! I was amazed because she is terrified of the vacuum! I guess it felt good to her!

Now my house is a bit less fur covered! I will probably have to wash and brush her again before the shedding season is over. Hopefully this will help keep the house cleaner and my nose and eyes feeling better! I am sure with the season that I am not the only one who has had enough of the shedding dogs. Check out Walmart to save some money on a FurBuster! You will be glad you did!

So today I used for the first time the Electrasol Gel Packs that I got free last year. Thankfully Chloe alerted me in a pretty timely manor that the dish washer was overflowing all over the floor. Had the dog not gotten my attention I would have had a mess! I tried finding if others were having a similar problem with these but it seemed only if they had soft water. We do not have a softener so now I am asking everyone here if they have had a problem with them? And what should I do with the rest of the box I have? Are there any other good uses out there for these things?

I feel like my life is just one huge “to do” list right now! We are getting things done. The bedroom looks amazing. We got a new mattress over the weekend and the old one is propped against the wall right now, but I will post pictures as soon as it heads to the trash. It is all clean and ready to be filled with baby stuff! The dinning room is a usable place now! We got out chairs and reclaimed the table instead of it being a dumping ground. I am sleeping better which means a little more energy to get things done. I do need to get to the chiropractor because my back is hurting the past few days. I got a bit of laundry done today but mostly just worked on a list of things to do this week. I went threw each room and made a list of things that need done. Here is what I am going to be doing:

Kitchen- organizing the shelves
cleaning off the counters
organizing the corner cabinets
organizing the fridge
organizing the pantry

The shelves which need some TLC!

The pantry is a huge mess.

The fridge has been cleaned but just needs organized.

Living Room – organize the drawers in the black dresser
finish putting away the laundry
clean off the entertainment unit

Entry Way – break down cardboard boxes and put out with trash
find homes for a few odds and ends

All rooms then need vacuumed, mopped and dusted! (Does anyone else have as much problem as I do keeping a clean floor?)

I figure I should be able to tackle these jobs pretty easily! I will just do one or two a day depending on how much energy I have that day. I will post my progress soon! How are all your “to do” lists coming along?